07.11.19
University bestowed Government funding to help microbusinesses use tech to grow
Sheffield Business School is part of a group of business schools accredited by Small Business Charter for their expertise who will deliver the programme. The Leading to Grow Programme will be offered at no cost to microbusinesses across England.
The funding has been made available through the government’s £9m Business Basics Programme run by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Innovate UK.
Businesses that employ up to nine people can apply to take part in workshops around how to utilise existing technologies to improve productivity and profitability.
Due to the small size and the dispersed nature of microbusinesses, they have not regularly received planned interventions by government agencies. The government is now targeting this type of business due to their possible and readiness to scale-up, and this is the first time that such a programme has been coordinated across the country.
With so many different elements being covered it is hoped that this free programme will help a large number of microbusinesses and support economic growth in a number of regions.
The UK’s 1.1million microbusinesses employ over 4 million people and contribute £533bn to the UK economy. The business schools, the Small Business Charter and the government hope to make a real influence on this vital part of the economy.
Dr Eileen McAuliffe, Dean of Sheffield Business School, said: “Sheffield Hallam University is committed to the Sheffield City Region and supporting businesses to grow and we already have a number of projects in place to enable this to happen.
“This funding will enable us to target some of our expertise and knowledge to support microbusinesses and entrepreneurs in our region to help drive future economies.”